Hong Kong Insurer Expands Into Digital Assets

Alchemy Pay, a Singapore-based platform that supports fiat to crypto purchases across 173 countries using Visa, Mastercard, regional mobile wallets and domestic transfers, has announced that it now provides a rupee-denominated on-ramp using India’s UPI real-time payments system.Photo by rupixen.com on UnsplashIn a recent blog post, the fiat to crypto payments solutions provider outlined that it now has the capacity to more effectively on-ramp India’s 1.4 billion citizens by enabling domestic transfer payments to effect crypto purchases through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a popular instant payments system in India. Processing domestic transactionsThe move means that Indian citizens can interact with the platform by way of simple, real-time domestic transfers, with a minimum purchase value of 1250 INR. First introduced in 2016, UPI has been wildly successful. In September 2022, the system recorded a monthly transaction volume of 6.7 billion transactions, representing a movement of $140 billion.The platform has partnered with 358 banks and continues to grow and expand its network. In Alchemy Pay’s home territory of Singapore, UPI has recently secured an integration with PayNow, a Singaporean secure funds transfer service. Referring to the PayNow/UPI integration in its blog post, Alchemy Pay is likely to be extending its UPI-based transfer service as a direct consequence.The payments facilitator claims that its plugin is “now being used by many wallets, DeFi, gaming and NFT marketplaces, as well as exchanges like OKX and LBank.”The Alchemy Pay platform has focused in particular on emerging regional real-time payments platforms. Within emerging markets it supports similar systems such as Pix, SPEI, GCash, Dana and OVO. As the Singaporean start-up puts it, ”simplifying the on-boarding process is crucial for the widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and by enabling local payment options, Alchemy Pay makes the adoption by a growing number of users possible.”Off the back of this expanded service offering, the company is currently inviting developers of Web3 platforms and dApps to get in touch so as to enable them in adding its plugin and integrating its API. Importance of bridging crypto with fiatIn another blog post on Monday, Alchemy Pay underscored the importance of an ability to on/off ramp to and from the crypto ecosystem. The company points out that in its recent history, the crypto space has been a complex and intimidating environment to enter or exit to/from the conventional world. It claims to be playing its part in changing this.According to the firm, its available options of transferring fiat currency to a user’s credit card, savings card or bank account via SWIFT, IBAN or local bank transfer is far more seamless than what has been offered to crypto space participants up until now. These transfers can be effected in minutes, with the platform supporting 22 currencies and payouts facilitated in over 60 countries.The digital assets space doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Current generations were all born into fiat-based monetary systems and naturally enough, the overwhelming majority of wealth is tied up within traditional systems.While digital assets have garnered quite a bit of attention over the course of the past few years, the overall market capitalization of crypto, which stands at $1.2 trillion at the time of publication according to cryptocurrency data aggregator CoinGecko, is only a drop in the bucket by comparison with the wealth that exists within the conventional system. More seamless bridging in line with what Alchemy Pay is offering will be necessary for this space to have a realistic chance of conquering mass market adoption.

Sam Altman’s iris-scanning project Worldcoin (WLD) has resumed its service in South Korea following two months of suspended operation, according to Digital Today. The project utilizes a device dubbed “Orbs” to collect personal biometric data from users who agreed to have their iris scanned by the machine.  The service was suspended after a number of complaints were filed against Worldcoin in February for its data collection practices. In the following development, Korea’s Personal Information Protection Committee (PIPC) launched an investigation into Worldcoin to examine if any local privacy law has been violated by Worldcoin. This led to suspension of six Orbs installed in several areas in Seoul, including Yeouido and Yeoksam areas.  While these Orbs have resumed operations, the investigation is still underway. The South Korean regulators are yet to decide what legal measures to take regarding Worldcoin, according to the press. Photo by Amanda Dalbjörn on UnsplashProof of personhood: Crypto tokens for simply being human Meanwhile, Worldcoin argues that it is impossible to identify an individual person by solely relying on the iris bio-data. It claims that the data will be only used in providing “proof of personhood” to distinguish humans from artificial intelligence (AI). The project aims to offer its WLD token to users “simply for being human” as universal basic income, whose jobs will be potentially replaced by artificial general intelligence (AGI) in the future.  A Worldcoin official added that the project has addressed potential privacy concerns by eliminating data custody processes and allowing users to remove their sensitive data at will. However, major countries including France and Spain have issued orders to suspend Worldcoin’s operation within their jurisdictions, citing risks involving personal data tracking and breaches.  A PIPC official stated that the government authority will continue the investigation and take further action in line with the Personal Information Protection Act.  

South Korea’s cryptocurrency market is moving through a period of stricter oversight and policy debate, while major industry players pursue overseas listings against a backdrop of falling market valuations and weaker investor sentiment.Photo by Ori Song on UnsplashAccording to Newsis, financial regulators are close to finalizing penalties for the country’s major crypto exchanges after a wide-ranging review of their compliance systems. The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under the Financial Services Commission (FSC) is preparing to issue sanctions such as institutional warnings, fines, and personnel measures against platforms found to have breached anti-money laundering (AML) rules. These actions follow a series of on-site inspections that began in August 2024 with Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, and were later extended to Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax. Authorities plan to determine and announce penalties in the order of these inspections, which concluded in April 2025. Stablecoin debate growsAt the same time, a policy debate is unfolding in the parliament over how far South Korea should go in supporting digital asset innovation. The Maeil Business Newspaper reported that Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byoung-dug has questioned the Bank of Korea’s cautious stance on launching a won-backed stablecoin. The central bank has identified seven main risks associated with such an asset, including possible de-pegging and threats to monetary policy stability. Min argues that the bank is placing too much weight on these micro-level risks. In a recent report, he contended that delaying innovation could lead to larger, structural economic losses and said the risks identified by the central bank can be managed through oversight and product design rather than by avoiding stablecoins altogether. Dunamu–Naver deal targets NasdaqIn the corporate sector, major fintech firms are pushing ahead with international expansion plans. Naver Financial and Dunamu, which operates the Upbit exchange, have endorsed a merger plan involving a comprehensive share swap, according to The Herald Business. The share swap ratio has been set at 2.54 to 1. This development follows earlier reports that the two firms were close to an agreement intended to support a future Nasdaq listing in the United States. Bitcoin slide persistsThese regulatory, legislative, and corporate developments are taking place as market conditions deteriorate. Global data show weakening demand, with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recording about $3.5 billion in net outflows in November, according to Bloomberg, while CoinMarketCap data show Bitcoin prices down roughly 24% over the past month.  Domestic sentiment reflects this caution. In a weekly survey conducted by CoinNess and Cratos, 59.5% of South Korean investors said over the weekend that they expect Bitcoin prices to fall or crash this week, up from 43.6% a week earlier. Only 12.4% of respondents forecast a price increase. Views on the broader market cycle are also shifting. In the same survey, 42.9% of participants said they believe the bull market has already ended. Reflecting this sentiment, Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear & Greed Index is at 15, in the “Extreme Fear” zone as of Nov. 26.